Pakistan’s ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday lambasted cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan as a coward for putting the dignity of a family at stake by proposing marriage to a woman he has been visiting for spiritual guidance.

Khan, the leader of the Opposition, on Sunday had confirmed that he had proposed marriage to the woman named Bushra Maneka but denied reports that he had secretly wed her.

Sharif said Khan was cowardly hiding after putting the dignity of a family at stake.

“What sort of person he is who hides like a coward while leaving an innocent family to face rumours,” he said.

Khan, 66, was married twice earlier.

Khan had first tied the knot with Jemima Khan on May 16, 1995 that ended in divorce after nine years on June 22, 2004.

His second marriage was with Reham, then a TV anchor, which continued barely 10 months. Although that marriage was publicly announced on January 8, 2015, there were reports that a nikah had also taken place in early November 2014.

Former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition, Omar Abdullah, on Tuesday said that the criticism of the PDP-BJP government by the Governor NN Vohra was the proof of its “failure” on all fronts.

Speaking during the discussion on the Governor’s address in the Assembly, Omar said that the open criticism of the coalition by the Governor indicates failure of the government.

Omar said that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir (J-K) has deteriorated drastically and the development activities were not visible.

He was referring to Vohra’s address during a function on Monday, in which the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was presented the award for probity in public life. The Governor had in his address expressed annoyance on the slackness in the administrative machinery of the state that had failed to achieve the goals.

Omar described Vohra statement as an “indictment” of the Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition government.

Militancy related incidents have increased in the state where normal life has been thrown out of gear. Celebrating killing of terrorists would not solve the problem and there was need to look into the causes that were creating disillusionment among the youth, said Omar.

Omar said that the present dispensation was taking credit of all development works that were initiated during his regime.

Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri resigned on Tuesday after Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi failed to resolve a political crisis in Pakistan’s biggest province.

Balochistan lawmakers had expressed a lack of confidence in the Chief Minister citing “unfulfilled commitments” while key ministers and advisers had turned dissidents, sparking a series of resignations and sackings, Dawn reported.

Abbasi is said to have advised Zehri to resign after Baloch opposition leaders rejected his invitation for a meeting, during which he was expected to attempt garnering some support for the beleaguered Chief Minister.

“We have decided not to meet the Prime Minister,” opposition leader Maulana Abdul Wasey was quoted as saying.

The opposition was expected to table a no-confidence motion against Zehri in the provincial assembly.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province in land area, is also home to a simmering insurgency for which Islamabad blames New Delhi.

Four labourers died and at least 40 others were injured on Tuesday when the tyre of a pick-up van they were travelling in burst and the vehicle overturned near here, police said.

The injured have been rushed to hospitals in Badnagar and Ujjain city.

Badnagar Poli Station in-charge Vivek Kanodia told IANS: “A contractor’s pick-up van was ferrying labourers from Bilgaon in the morning when the tyre burst and the vehicle fell into a roadside ditch.”

Three labourers died on the spot, while another succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

“More than 40 labourers were injured in the accident. The severely injured labourers have been referred to an Ujjain hospital,” Kanodia said.

Police have arrested a man on charges of forcing a girl to commit suicide by sending her “obscene videos” to her fiance just before their marriage, in Lawar town here.

According to the police, the accused, Shadab, worked at the firecracker manufacturing unit of the girl’s father in Lawar. It is said that he had an affair with the girl and somehow managed to get his hands at some private videos of her.

Shadab wanted to marry the girl but she was engaged to someone else. The wedding was fixed in the first week of February. Shadab hatched a conspiracy to break her engagement and sent those obscene videos to the girl’s fiance who shared it with her in-laws to be. The girl committed suicide on the very first day of the new year by hanging herself from the ceiling fan.

SP (rural) Rajesh Kumar said that Shadab has admitted to sending video because he wanted to marry her.

He escaped to Delhi after girl’s family named him in the FIR. He was arrested from Delhi on Sunday and has been sent to jail.

BJP leaders Vineet Sharda and Sunil Bharala have described it a case of ‘love jihad’ and demanded an ex gratia of Rs. 5 lakh to the family. The incident led to a communal tension in the town.

As Bigg Boss 11 is heading towards the finale, Vikas Gupta, a TV producer who is among the top five participants, fears losing in the television reality show after experiencing the public support that actresses and co-contestants Shilpa Shinde and Hina Khan received at a mall here.

During a select media interaction here, when Vikas was asked if he counts himself as a potential winner, he said: “Well, I knew I am not a celebrity like these actresses here, so I have no fan following. I (thought I) might just survive for a month. But then with the constant support of the audience, I have reached to top five.

“However, when all of us went to the mall for a live poll, whatever happened to Hina (Khan), I doubt if I have any chance. With my game plan, strategy and smart play, I was thinking that I would be reaching on top two, if not the winner.

“But then I went to the mall along with other participants and realised how strong a base of fan-followers Shilpa Shinde has. That was an eye-opener for me. Like Salman Khan sir said once that the last two weeks of the show is in the hands of the public. I think I am losing the ground there.”

Last week, all the four contestants nominated for ouster went to a mall to seek live votes from the audience. Some of Shilpa’s fans reportedly expressed dissent with Hina, and one of them even pulled her hair.

If you are a woman and have been assigned night shifts at the workplace for long, be a little concerned about your health. According to new research, continuous shifts at irregular hours may increase the risk of common cancers among women.

The researchers found that overall, long-term night shift work among women increased the risk of cancer by 19 percent.

Of all the occupations analysed, nurses had the highest risk of developing breast cancer if they worked the night shift.

“Our study indicates that night shift work serves as a risk factor for common cancers in women,” said Xuelei Ma, co-author of the study from West China Medical Center of Sichuan University in Chengdu, China.

For the study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, researchers performed a meta-analysis using data from 61 articles comprising 114,628 cancer cases and 3,909,152 participants from North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

The articles consisted of 26 cohort studies, 24 case-control studies and 11 nested case-control studies. These studies were analysed for an association between long-term night shift work and risk of 11 types of cancer.

When analysing specific cancers, the researchers found that this population had an increased risk of skin (41 per cent), breast (32 per cent), and gastrointestinal cancer (18 per cent) compared with women who did not perform long-term night shift work.

A further analysis was conducted which looked specifically at long-term night shift work and risk of six types of cancer among female nurses.

Among female nurses alone, those who worked the night shift had an increased risk of breast (58 per cent), gastrointestinal (35 percent) and lung cancer (28 percent) compared with those that did not work night shifts.

“Nurses that worked the night shift were of a medical background and may have been more likely to undergo screening examinations,” the researcher suggested.

The results might help establish and implement effective measures to protect female night shifters.

“Long-term night shift workers should have regular physical examinations and cancer screenings,” Ma noted.

The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday fixed the reference rate of the rupee at 63.4690 against the US dollar and 75.9153 for the euro.

The corresponding rates were 63.3482 and 76.1509, yesterday.

The according to an RBI statement, the exchange rates for the pound and the yen against the rupee were 86.1528 and 56.33 per 100 yens, respectively, based on reference rates for the dollar and cross-currency quotes at noon.

The SDR-rupee figure will be based on this rate, the statement added.

Actress-model Joanna Lumley is on board to host the 71st British Academy Film Awards. The ceremony will be hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

The gala will be held on February 18 at the Royal Albert Hall here.

Following the departure of comedian Stephen Fry, who last week announced that he was stepping down after fronting the ceremony 12 times, Lumley was announced as the new host on Tuesday, reports deadline.com.

The actress, author and activist, who starred in 2016’s Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, also features in Paddington 2, which been nominated for the Best British Film, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor categories.

Fry said last week that he was stepping down from his longtime BAFTA emcee role “to let others take the BAFTAs on to new heights and greater glories… What fun it will be to watch BAFTA 2018 without my heart hammering, mouth drying and knees trembling”.

Lumley called the opportunity to host “so unbelievably thrilling,” saying she thought the host would have been “Stephen Fry forever more… Who would have thought I would turn into Stephen Fry?”

Adding that she understood the “turmoil of emotions” for the contenders on BAFTA night, she joked: “I don’t have to be connected with that because I’m above it all.”

A Communist Party of India (CPI) leader on Tuesday compared Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, saying all three treat the media with disdain.

Former CPI legislator Rajaji Mathew Thomas, the Chief Editor of the CPI party organ, said he had never heard any Chief Minister of Kerala ordering the media to “get out”.

“He (Vijayan) is doing what Modi and of late Trump have been doing, treating the media with absolute disdain,” said Thomas.

“Such a thing has never happened in Kerala… Keeping the media away is an open admission that one does not want to take uncomfortable questions,” he said.

Last year, Vijayan angrily asked journalists taking pictures of a meeting chaired by him to get out. He came under severe criticism for this.

Since Vijayan assumed office in May 2016, time and again the two Communist parties, otherwise partners in the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), have engaged in a war of words.

Late last year, all four CPI cabinet ministers decided to boycott the weekly cabinet meeting to protest the way Vijayan they said arbitrarily handled things.

While the CPI-M is keen to get the Kerala Congress (Mani) into the LDF fold, the CPI is opposing it tooth and nail.

Vijayan is also bitterly opposed to the Congress but the CPI has a soft corner for that party — in order to take on the BJP.

The Shape Of Water, an American dark fantasy drama film directed by Guillermo del Toro, leads the nominations for the British Academy Film Awards 2018, to be hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) with 12 nods.

The nominations were announced here on Tuesday, according to a statement on the official BAFTA website.

Darkest Hour and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri have both received nine nominations while Blade Runner 2049 and Dunkirk have tied at eight.

I, Tonya has received five nominations, Call Me by Your Name and Phantom Thread have four each and Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, Lady Bird and Paddington 2 have been nominated in three categories each.

Four other feature films have received one nomination each: Molly’s Game for Adapted Screenplay, War for the Planet of the Apes for Special Visual Effects and Victoria & Abdul and Wonder both for Make-up and Hair.

The Shape of Water is nominated for Best Film, Original Music, Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design, Sound, Editing and Special Visual Effects.

Toro, who won Best Director at the 75th Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, is nominated for both Director and Original Screenplay while Sally Hawkins is running for Leading Actress and Octavia Spencer for Supporting Actress.

The nominations for Film Not in the English Language are Elle, First They Killed My Father, The Handmaiden, Loveless and The Salesman.

In the Animated Film category, competitors are Coco, Loving Vincent and My Life as a Courgette. The nominations in the Documentary category are City of Ghosts, I Am Not Your Negro, Icarus, An Inconvenient Sequel and Jane.

Daniel Kaluuya and Timothée Chalamet, both of whom are competing in the Leading Actor category, are also nominated for the EE Rising Star Award.

Their fellow nominees are Tessa Thompson, Florence Pugh, and Josh O’Connor.

This audience award is voted for by the British public and presented to an actress or actor who has demonstrated exceptional talent and has begun to capture the imagination of the public.

The BAFTA Awards will be held on February 18 at the Royal Albert Hall, London. The ceremony will be hosted by Joanna Lumley.

Fantasy drama The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri will be releasing in India in February.

Fox Star Studios will be releasing The Shape of Water in India on February 2, and Three Billboard Outside Ebbing, Missouri on February 16, read a statement.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri won big at the 75th Golden Globe Awards. It was named Best Motion Picture – Drama, and Frances McDormand won Best Actress, Sam Rockwell nabbed the Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Martin McDonagh bagged the Best Screenplay honour for it.

The film is about a mother who, when the police in her town fail to find a suspect in her daughter’s murder, purchases three billboards to call public attention to the unsolved crime.

Veteran film composer Alexandre Desplat took home the award for Best Score for the film The Shape of Water at the 2018 Golden Globes. Guillermo del Toro won the trophy in the Best Director category.

The Shape of Water is about a mute, isolated woman who works as a cleaning lady in a hidden, high-security government laboratory in 1962 Baltimore.

Home appliance maker Whirlpool of India plans to invest Rs 182 crore to enhance production capacity of single door refrigerators.

“The company is proposing to enhance its single door refrigerators’ existing capacity of 21 lakh by 6 lakh per annum from internal sources at an estimated cost of Rs 182 crore to be spent over the next two years,” the company said in a BSE filing.

It said “setting up of additional capacity is being undertaken in line with the company’s focus strategy and to meet increasing demand of its products”.

The current capacity utilisation of single door refrigerators is around 94 per cent, it added.

The company has two refrigerator plants in Faridabad and Pune and a washing machine plant in Puducherry.

Farah Khan is known for the signature steps she puts in her songs. They always impress the audience and make them groove. The choreographer turned 53 today (9 January). She has given us many amazing songs to shake our leg to and we hope that she would keep making us dance. On her birthday, here is a list of songs that would make you watch them once again.

Pehla nasha

The song that marked her debut as a choreographer. An iconic song from the movie Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar.

Ek pal ka jeena

Though Hrithik Roshan is an amazing dancer, Farah’s signature move caught the eyes.

Chaiyya chaiyya

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQmrmVs10X8
Who can ever forget the famous song filmed on a moving train. That is something which only Farah Khan can do.

Wo ladki hai kahan

Remember the hand flapping step? The song portrayed different eras which were quite rare at that time.

Idhar chala mai udhar chala

I bet we all have tried the hook step of the song and failed.

It’s the time to disco

This song created a lot of buzz during that time. Thanks to Farah Khan.

Desi girl

Priyanka Chopra got her Desi girl nickname after this song.

Sheila ki jawaani

Though the movie was not a hit, this song definitely was a super hit.

Munni badnaam hui

Malaika Arora Khan and Farah khan were the best combination. The most highlighted song on the movie’s playlist.

Fevicol se

The item song from Dabbang 2 was even better, featuring Kareena Kapoor.

Radha

Farah Khan surely made Alia Bhatt’s debut better with this song from Student of the Year.

Ghagra

We got to see Madhuri Dixit’s come back with this song. What could be better than that?

Scientists have found a star that is almost identical to the Sun, except for the chemical composition, making it a ‘Rosetta Stone’ for the study of the solar body’s variability and effect on the Earth’s climate.

The spots on the surface of the Sun come and go with an 11-year periodicity known as the solar cycle.

The solar cycle is driven by the solar dynamo, which is an interplay between magnetic fields, convection and rotation.

However, our understanding of the physics underlying the solar dynamo is far from complete.

Now, an international team led by researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark has found a star that can help shed light on the physics underlying the solar dynamo.

The star is located 120 light years away in the constellation of Cygnus, and on the surface, the star looks just like the Sun: it has the same mass, radius and age – but its chemical composition is very different.

It consists of around twice as many heavy elements as in the Sun. Heavy elements are the ones heavier than hydrogen and helium.

The new study can help us understand how the irradiance of the Sun has changed over time, which is likely to have an effect on our climate, researchers said.

The team has succeeded in combining observations from the Kepler spacecraft with ground-based observations dating as far back as 1978, thereby reconstructing a 7.4-year cycle in this star.

“The unique combination of a star almost identical to the Sun, except for the chemical composition, with a cycle that has been observed from both the Kepler spacecraft and from ground makes this star a Rosetta Stone for the study of stellar dynamos,” said Christoffer Karoff from Aarhus University.

By combining photometric, spectroscopic and asteroseismic data, the team collected the most detailed set of observations for a solar-like cycle in any star other than the Sun.

The observations revealed that the amplitude of the cycle seen in the star’s magnetic field is more than twice as strong as what is seen on the Sun, and the cycle is even stronger in visible light.

This allowed the team to conclude that more heavy elements make a stronger cycle.